Latest / Best of Business / Bosses Unfiltered Episode 5: Aidan Bartlett

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Bosses Unfiltered Episode 5: Aidan Bartlett · Best of Business

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: The big wins and the big losses, the hurdles, the pivots,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: and the emotions, raw and honest New Zealand's great business
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: minds like you've never heard them before. This is Bosses
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Unfiltered with Kerry Woodham on iHeartRadio powered by Newstalk Sedby.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: What do you do when you've invested all your money
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: into an idea you thought was going off and then
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: the whole world shuts down? Do you try to fight
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: on or do you completely change your business to survive?
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: That's the decision. Aidan Bartlett based He's the co founder
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: and chief executive of designer Wardrobe, an online marketplace and
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: once upon a time a designer rental shop. Covid wrecked
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: the business, but then also gave it a new life.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: Nice to see you, Aiden.
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: Thanks for having me, Kry.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: So how did it start?
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: Yes, So I am not the genesis of designer Wardrobe.
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: I owe that to donniel Brook, who's my very very
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: good friend and partner, and she started designer Wardrobe all
• 1:03
  Speaker 4: the way back in twenty fifteen. So we've actually just
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: celebrated our ten year anniversary, which is quite the milestone,
• 1:11
  Speaker 4: especially with everything that's happened in between. But she originally
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: started design a wardrobe because she had been recently diagnosed
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: with thyroid cancer at the time and she couldn't work
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: and she had a huge love for fashion. So when
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: you haven't got income, you need to start liquidating things.
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: And so the most value that she had was in
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: her wardrobe. So she started a Facebook group called Designer
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: Wardrobe and she started listing her things, initially just for
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: other people to buy them, essentially, and because she's this
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: incredible networker and community builder, it just slowly, well quickly really,
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: but slowly but quickly turned into this community of people
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: buying and selling fashion. And that's when I saw it,
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: and I said, we should really turn this into something.
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: So that's sort of where the genesis happened, and it
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: became this little network of people was.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: And you saw the opportunity to anaitize that and turn
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: it into a going concern.
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly.
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: Yeah, especially because I had some validation because overseas there
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: were other platforms that were sprouting up that were able
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: to compete against the incumbents like eBay and you know,
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: the big players like that. So I thought, you know,
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: maybe there's you know, enough demand for this in New Zealand.
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: And obviously the incumbent here has trade me.
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: So the question is, you know, can we compete with
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: that and offer something that's different from them and something
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: with his value for both the buyer and a seller.
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: And that was the hypothesis.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: So you went to her with that idea. Yeah, Donielle,
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: I think we can turn.
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: The yeah a living Yeah, let's make something of this
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: and yeah.
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: Let's be the first to build a fast only marketplace
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: in New Zealand.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: When did you get into the business of renting clothes?
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so that happened quite away on from Designer Wardrobe
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: the marketplace. So we with our core of the business,
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: like the DNA of Designer Wardrobe has always been the
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: buying and selling part and that's where my heart's always
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: been as well. We went through like an incubator, which
• 3:24
  Speaker 4: is basically like as a bit of a startup term,
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: but it's like a program almost that you go through
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: with the intention of condensing twelve months of knowledge into
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: three months and then presenting your business case to investors
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: and getting investments. So like a dragon's den exactly, almost
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: like a dragon's den would be a great way to
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: describe it and we got investment which was fantastic. We
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: had some amazing investors Shane and Simon have been the
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: lead investors the whole way through and still massive supporters
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: of Designer Wardrobe still on the board and everything, which
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: is amazing even ten years on again. But Rental came
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: a few years after that after getting investment with design
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: and Wardrobe. So we were growing as a business. But you know,
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: being New Zealand and being quite small, especially being venture backed,
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: there's an expectation to really grow and being very New
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: Zealand centric, we went seeing enough growth to just be
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: a pure play marketplace, we had to look at what
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: where else can we grow And on the marketplace we
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: were seeing people instead of you know, selling something, they
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: were you know, listing a dress and saying, oh, actually
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: this is for rent you're not actually buying it. So
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: we looked at that and thought that's really interesting. And
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: again I did my thing where I look overseas as
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: anyone else doing that, is there some validation for this?
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: And that had become this big category overseas where companies
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: would buy vast portfolios of dresses and rented out. So
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: that looked like a really great opportunity for us at
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: the time, as you can imagine without having the Crystal Ball.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: COVID, so rental was a great idea. But I imagine
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: that initially you didn't need that much seed money or
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: startup money when it's a purely online business. I know,
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: because I have to buy those dresses and there wasn't
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: a designer wardrobe when I was around doing black tie events.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: I have got literally thousands of dollars and that's just me.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: So there would have needed to have been a lot
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: more money invested in the business to get that stock
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: of design addresses.
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: How much it was huge.
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: We spent you know, well over a million dollars on
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: our first collection of dresses, and that was to get
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: you know, yeah, a couple thousand, two or three thousand,
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: and that were like those were, you know, before we
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: could have more leverage with talking to brands and getting
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: what you know, a special deal.
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: It was like I just buy God.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: Donielle must have.
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: Been like, oh yeah, me, yeah, yeah, no.
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: She she did such a great job and she's got
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: a bit of an eye for it.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: And I imagine that not only would you need a
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: lot of stock, you'd need a business premises and you'd
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: also need stuff because Donna Donyell and you couldn't just
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: do it.
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, that's right.
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: It's a very logistically heavy heavy business. So we moved
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: from a I think it was a fifty meter squared
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: office that was above a lunch bar in Albany to
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: ares a thre undred meter square warehouse. You know, in
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: a very short space of time. And with that you
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: have to have staff on a different number of positions,
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: like people who are inbound in the stock, who a
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: photograph in the stock, writing descriptions, putting it up on
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: the site, and then all the reverse logistics that comes
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: with that, so you know, when you send something out,
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: you're not just sending it.
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: You also need to get it back.
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: So there's a lot of technology that we had to
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: build and then a lot of physical logistics that we
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: had to build alongside of two so year, it was
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: a very high touch business.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: Investors. How did they feel when you presented the case
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: for the rental side of the business to them?
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: Yeah, well, yeah, they were very much aligned with the
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: plan because it was something that we were seeing overseas,
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: and again without having COVID on the horizon, knowing nothing
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: about that it was very much like a blue Sky
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: category and one that made a heap of cents because essentially,
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: you know, you could buy address for retail or even wholesale,
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: and by the time you've rented out just six times,
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: it paid itself off. So the union economics made a
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: lot of sense. And we were typically renting out address,
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: you know, between twelve and twenty times, so the vast
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: majority addresses were paying themselves off relatively quickly.
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: So you've done your planning, you had the stock, you
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: had the premises. Yeah, when did you open the doors?
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: So twenty seventeen, Yeah, mid twenty seventeen is when we
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: initially had our very first rental store, and that was
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: in Grafton and that was actually just below our offices.
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: And the main reason we did that was again it
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: was relatively organic. We didn't actually set out to sort
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: of go back to the future with stores because stores.
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: Was never a part of the plan as a digital business.
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: But the thing was that renting is such a high
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: stakes game for someone who is renting right.
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: Like as you're talking about like a black.
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: Tie event or horse races, like you need to know
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: that it fits, you need to see it, you need
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: to know that you can come and pick it up
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: at a specified time, rather than relying on careers and
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: things like that, which caused a lot of anxiety. So
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: there was a big enough percentage of people who wanted
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: to come try it on first and pick it up
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: that it made sense for us to have a physical premises.
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: So we did it as a bit of a pilot
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: below our stores, our office rather and it became very
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: popular very quickly, which made us go, okay, well, stores
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: maybe make sense for this business model because it's so
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: new and trust as such a high part of it
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: that this is perhaps how we.
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: Make it mainstream.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: So when did you open the big new market store.
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: That way, Yeah, so that, believe it or not, was
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: February of twenty twenty. Yeah, yeah, so that was we
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: actually raised our biggest round of capital we raised in
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: twenty nineteen. It was December, and we signed the lease
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: for our flagship store in twenty twenty.
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: So yeah, it's.
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: Was, again, hindsight right, a very difficult time for us
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: because that was a big investment.
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: Flagship store is not cheap as you can imagine, and
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: all that stock. Yeah yeah, yeah, So.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: When the announcement from the government came that everything was
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: to be locked down and we went to leave home.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: Where were you when you heard that?
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: And what did you do? Yeah, well, first it was.
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: I think you go through those various stages of disbelief.
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: I remember very clearly there was these whispers of lockdowns
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: and we thought that was just propaganda almost at the time.
• 10:17
  Speaker 4: And then school Balls was also coming up, which is
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: a super important part of our business at the time,
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: and everybody was talking about school Balls might be canceled,
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: and we just said, no way, no way, School's going
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: to allow, you know, the flagship of end of the
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: year to be closed down.
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: So that was it was just really scary, just so.
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: Many unknowns, and you know, we were well placed in
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: terms of like, you know, we had raised a good
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: round of capital, so we did have essentially money in
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: the bank, but at the same time, we had committed
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: a lot of this capital to capital to you know,
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: a part of the business that we couldn't essentially run
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: right because of these lockdowns and staff and had to worry. Yeah,
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: then it's becomes a whole other factor where it's like
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: we've got this stuff, like how do we take care
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: of them while also you know, taking care of the
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: business at the same time and doing right by shareholders.
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: So a lot to balance. That's streetsful, Yeah, very stressful.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, how did you deal with that streth?
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we had a really great network of people around us,
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: which I'm extremely thankful for.
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: So being a founder.
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: Is a lonely thing, as you know, notoriously lonely. You
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: you make a lot of sacrifices to do it. However,
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: very thankful to have such a great network around us,
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: especially around that time with our investors were incredibly supportive
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: and also just the team as well. Like you know,
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: Donnie is one of our lifelong friends, so we could
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: always be incredibly honest and same as Ruby, So we
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: had that support network.
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: There which was incredibly.
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: Yeah, in credibly necessary during that time. And then it
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: was just going back to let's just be pragmatic and
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: just do do what we can with what's in front
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: of us.
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: So there were tough choices.
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: In there, but again, yeah, just having those people around
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: you and also having a very supportive partner was just
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: paramount to getting through those times.
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, those first few weeks where you don't know what's
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: going to happen. Yeah, you don't know whether to sell
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: all the stock or yeah, keep it and hope that
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: things go back to normal.
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: What does normal look like exactly?
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Yeah, we didn't know what what normal would look
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: like at all. Yeah, And yeah, if you knew, okay,
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: this is going to be six months.
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: And it's a completely different story, right.
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: But having you know, lumpy lockdowns and and lots of
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: changes and then that traffic light system and all these
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: sort of things just made yeah, made the business extremely
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: necessary difficult to navigate.
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, So how.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: Did you navigate it? What did you do? Did you
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: ever think this is too hard? I'm done?
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: No, No, I think a mix of stubbornness and just
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: belief that it should exist, you know. And yeah, I
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: think like the other thing being a founder, especially one
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: that I've been in I've been in it deeply, like
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: deeply for six years and sort of became like a
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: part of my identity, right, So.
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: I was like, I need to get us out of this.
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: And yeah, it felt like if the business failed, then
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: it would you know, feel like feel very personal. And
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: so that that drive to pivot out and make the
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: still work despite all these things was.
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, there was a lot.
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: Of motivation there for me and we just made a plan.
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: It was every every you know week. It was like
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: we'd have this like three month plan like if things changed,
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: then then we can do this.
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: If they don't, then we'll do that.
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: But at the same time, we had this this silver
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: lining of what was going on on Designer Wardrobe, which
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: was while the rental part was almost turned off, the
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: marketplace side, the buying and selling because everybody was at home,
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: everybody all of a sudden had this abundance of time
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: to list things. We saw this huge boost and marketplace activity.
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: So that was also something that really kept us going
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: to see the other side of the business that was
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: sort of growing steadily in the background suddenly had this
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: big lift.
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: Of course, I totally get that people were going through
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: the wardrobes and coloring.
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: I was buying, people were buying yeah, I mean maybe
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: more track suits than usual, but people were buying.
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: People still just love to buy and especially just discover
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: as well.
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: It's part of Designer Wardrobe as you discover something and
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: just yeah, it's just a way to.
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: Yeah, a way to pass time, and a lot of
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: ways tell people to use Designer Wardrobe.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: The honor story of being in business talking the wins
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: and the losses. Bosses Unfiltered with Kerry woodhem on iHeartRadio
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: powered by News Talks EDB. What it's really like to
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: build a business in New Zealand. Bosses Unfiltered with Kerry
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: woodhem On iHeartRadio powered by News Talks EDB.
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: We came out of COVID, Yeah, lockdowns were over. Yeah,
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: where did that leave Designer Wardrobe the marketplace, Designer Wardrobe
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: the store.
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: Yeah, well both actually took off right after the lockdowns
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: were lifted. So we were saying record you know, traffic
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: in the stores, which was which was amazing, and we
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: were very glad we didn't sell all the stock because yeah,
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: there was that period after those initial lockdowns where it
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: was everything was great again, right, and so.
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: Again we saw really great lift.
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: In the foot traffic and people using design and ORDERB
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: and events were back on, which was great. But then
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: every time, you know, you'd go back into another lockdown
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: like Delta or you know Auckland lockdowns, all that sort
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: of thing, it just created a whole logistical nightmare for
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: us because it meant anything that was booked during those
• 16:17
  Speaker 4: times we have to refund, we have to get them
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: back and yeah, there was just a lot of moving
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: parts in that business.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: So when we finally said we're not going to have
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: lockdowns anymore, you know, the fight against COVID is over.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: Were you exhausted from battling to keep everything together.
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: It definitely took a mental toll, especially like being at home,
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: not being around other people, you know, apart from of
• 16:43
  Speaker 4: course your partner, but not being you know, not being
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: at work and having that.
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: Camaraderie and you know, that physical camaraderie.
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: It's definitely really tough, and yeah, it's exhausting, right, but
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: when we finally saw each other again physically everything, you know,
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: you felt really renewed and you're ready to fight another
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: day in a lot of ways.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: But you and Donielle decided to separate the business out.
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so after all the uncertainty of the lockdowns, we
• 17:19
  Speaker 4: did end up having to make that really tough call
• 17:22
  Speaker 4: to essentially turn the stores off, which was, Yeah, that
• 17:26
  Speaker 4: was one of the hardest decisions that we made, was
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: that you know, at that time, again we just couldn't
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: see any consistency and how these lockdowns were folding out,
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: So we decided to shut the stores down. A lot
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: of ways, like our leases of running out, and it's
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: whether or not we commit to another two to three
• 17:46
  Speaker 4: years as well. So we just made that decision that hey,
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: let's turn the stores off and really focus on can
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: we make rental a.
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: Really amazing online only experience.
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: So that's where we put a lot of energy, so
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: essentially transfer to energy from stores.
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: And just make the online as good as it can be. Yeah,
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: and it did. It took Yeah.
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: Well, that was the problem as well, was that it
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: was through no lack of trying, that we just couldn't
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: quite get that momentum back with the rental side of
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: the business. So the other thing about it is that
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: we had a marketplace which, as I mentioned, was going fantastically,
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: which was really great to.
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: See, and.
• 18:32
  Speaker 4: That was, you know, twenty percent of our effort versus
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: rental being as I said, like very high touch logistical
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: businesses eighty percent our efforts. So you just have to
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: make that really tough decision and go, okay, Wolf, we
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: actually spent one hundred percent of our time on the marketplace.
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: Does that make a lot more sense as a business
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: than spending eighty percent of our time on marketplace and
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: trying to juggle the two.
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: And we just had that really.
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: Honest conversation internally and with the board and our investors,
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: and we just arrived at you know, we're actually going
• 19:04
  Speaker 4: to go back to our roots, which is we're buying
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: and selling digital marketplace and we are just going to
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: lean as hard as possible into that. And that's the
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: Designer Wardrobe that it is today, is a fully digital
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: only marketplace for buying and selling.
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: And that's lucky that you and Donnell were aligned on that.
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, we were.
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: So.
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: Donneelle loves marketplace, but she also really loves the rental
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: side of the business too, and that was a discussion
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: between us.
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: It's like, we don't want to just you know, do
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: a fire sale of all our clothes. It just feels
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: like such a waste.
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: And so Donneelle and her mum Donna, said, well, you
• 19:45
  Speaker 4: know what, maybe we could do this business ourselves and
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: we could be completely separate from Designer Wardrobe and we'll
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: call it something else. But we want rental to live
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: on in some way and we think that's you know,
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: the best use of our skill sets as well. And
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: so that's how the business essentially got separated was Designer
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: Wardrobe sold the assets of the rental business to Donnelle
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: and Donna, and they created a really great rental business
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: themselves called the dress Room, which is essentially what DW
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: Rentals was, and they have a store and Ted Street
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: of Newmarket which is going really well, which is fantastic,
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: and they just they're so such great operators of that business.
• 20:26
  Speaker 4: So it's so satisfying to see that although we had
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: to turn it off as part of Designer Wardrobe, it
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: still lives on through another business.
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: You seem to be able to pick trends, you know,
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: because there's that whole social ethos now about not just
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: being inherently consumerist buying something and wearing at once and
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: biffing it, or you know, people are very very happy
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: to upcycle upflow dresses and to rent rather than have
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: yes and you were ahead of the game on that
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: really with you.
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, we saw that trend pretty early. In fact,
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: it's it had existed overseas, but.
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: Was very early in New Zealand.
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: And we've been really eager, very happy to try things
• 21:15
  Speaker 4: as a business. Right There's there's a lot of different
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: ideas that we've tried as a business.
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: That haven't worked out.
• 21:20
  Speaker 4: But we're also just so glad to try things at
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: the same time, and rental was a big bet and
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: I think in a different.
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: World it probably would have still really worked really well.
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: It was just unfortunately a timing thing too that the
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: recession would have helped as well, Like you aren't going
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: to spend four hundred dollars on a beautiful y, yeah,
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: but they will buy somebody else's beautiful four hundred dollars
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: dress for two hundred or rented.
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you do see that.
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: And it's the same as like the marketplace as well,
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: because typically when you buy something secondhand off designer wardrobe,
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: it's roughly you know, sixty percent off retail. So that
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: price factor, especially around you know, the current economic conditions
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: as a big part of why people use designer wardrobe
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: or their rent However, also not immune to people just
• 22:13
  Speaker 4: having less money in general, so there's also that factor that.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: Comes into and you've noticed that, have you.
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely, So, you know, we're really pleased we've had
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: certainly had some tough years, but really pleased it over
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: the past year we've seen some really good positive growth
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: as a business and you know, we can proudly say
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: one in ten people or one in ten women in
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: New Zealand assign up to Designer Wardrobe, which is such
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: a very proud milestone for us, and you know we're
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: you know, every month we've one to two million dollars
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: where the items are sold on Designer Wardrobe and that
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: is something that you know, we're proud of.
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: It's it's really great to see.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: Do you set yourself milestones for the business.
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's done that absolutely, Yeah, absolutely.
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: And you know we've always been like a very New
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: Zealand centric business, like we want to give New Zealand
• 23:05
  Speaker 4: as the best experience possible with buying and selling. But
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: part of that is also growing as well in Australia
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: has become a market for us that's become quite interesting.
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: And again I sound like a broken record, but it
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: happened organically because it was Australian's actually trying to sign
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: up to design a wardrobe in New Zealand, trying to
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: buy things and not being able to and so they
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: are because you need a New Zealand address too.
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah, So it's just just a logistical thing.
• 23:38
  Speaker 4: And so that that again made us look and go okay, well,
• 23:42
  Speaker 4: you know, can can we if we go back to
• 23:44
  Speaker 4: a mission statement which is to have pre loved in
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: every closet in New Zealand.
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: Can we.
• 23:50
  Speaker 4: Still do that and have Australia in the mix too
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: and give everybody a better experience And the answer was yes,
• 23:56
  Speaker 4: So that's why we opened up the platform to Australia
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: as well.
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: I was just gonna say, the Aussie girls in different
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: states have a very different style New Zealand girls, but
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: I guess that doesn't matter when you're not doing the
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: buying or the selling. We're just acting as a conduit
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: for to buy and sell.
• 24:11
  Speaker 4: Yeah, exactly, like we have quite a minimal platform design
• 24:15
  Speaker 4: as well, because we want the pieces themselves to do
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: all the talking. And when it comes to Australia, a
• 24:22
  Speaker 4: lot of learnings there too, because you know, before going
• 24:25
  Speaker 4: in you think so much of it is copy and paste.
• 24:28
  Speaker 4: You know, there's so much that is similar, and the
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: more you dig in and the more you try to
• 24:34
  Speaker 4: localize the platform, you realize how much is different. And
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: one of the reasons is what you're saying, there is
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: a lot of cross pollination with brands, but at the
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: same time there isn't.
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: So it's something that we're learning.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: Wins, losses and the real stories behind our great companies.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: Bosses Unfiltered with Kerry Woodhem on iHeartRadio powered by News
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: Talks be the big lessons from New Zealand's youngest and
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: oldest entrepreneurs. Bosses Unfiltered with Kerry wood on iHeartRadio powered
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: my News Talks B How do you.
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: Do the quality control? Because I always seem to find
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: the sweet stained nylon Osti frock, whereas other friends of
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: mine have an absolute gift for a beautiful designer piece
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: that's never been worn. Hat does the community police itself
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: around quality?
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so we do.
• 25:25
  Speaker 4: We do our own moderation of items, but we also
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: mainly rely on the community as well. So for example,
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: if a listing is inconsistent, that can often get.
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: Flagged to us.
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: And then we also are embedding AI a lot more
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: to try and have that quality control a bigger part
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: of designer wardrobe, but we're getting a lot better at that.
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: How do you use AI to your advantage?
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: So one of the biggest ones that we've done is
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: reducing friction for a seller, like, for example, if you
• 26:02
  Speaker 4: had a dress that you wanted to sell. One of
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: the most exciting features that we've just launched is you
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: take a picture of that dress, you take a picture
• 26:11
  Speaker 4: of the tag, and the AI will analyze both those
• 26:17
  Speaker 4: images and write a title. They I will write a description,
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: and then it'll extract the brand from the tag and
• 26:25
  Speaker 4: extract the size from the tag and then prepopulate that
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: into the listen item part of the website. So it
• 26:32
  Speaker 4: just reduces that friction of actually selling it, and then
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: on top of that, it will then look at all
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: the historical sales of similar items and then suggest a
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: suitable price as well.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, So that's something that I've been super obsessed
• 26:47
  Speaker 4: with over the past month or so because I really
• 26:50
  Speaker 4: want to get this right or as right as possible
• 26:53
  Speaker 4: with the tools that we have right now.
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: And yeah, it's awesome to see it out in the wild.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: Now, where do you see the business? Where's the where's
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: the next big milestone for you?
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think we've got a lot of room to
• 27:07
  Speaker 4: grow in New Zealand. You know, fashion, the resal fashion
• 27:12
  Speaker 4: category in New Zealand is with roughly seven hundred to
• 27:17
  Speaker 4: a billion dollars a year and it's still growing. Yeah, yeah,
• 27:21
  Speaker 4: and it's still growing fifteen fifteen percent roughly, And that's
• 27:25
  Speaker 4: the same in Australia. It's actually the same as what
• 27:27
  Speaker 4: you're seeing globally, So we don't feel like we've hit
• 27:30
  Speaker 4: the ceiling in New.
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: Zealand at all.
• 27:31
  Speaker 4: We think there's a lot of room to grow here.
• 27:34
  Speaker 4: And then also, you know, Australia is something that we're
• 27:37
  Speaker 4: seeing some green sprouts too, and something that will continue
• 27:41
  Speaker 4: to nurture as well.
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: You do look really invigorated when you talk about the business.
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: It looks like that you've been able to leave those
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: tough times in the back in the rearview mirror.
• 27:55
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I believe it or not. I actually could not
• 28:00
  Speaker 4: work from home for until a year ago because working
• 28:05
  Speaker 4: from home actually gave me anxiety because of it brought
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: me back to those years of you know, COVID and
• 28:13
  Speaker 4: just being inside and being and like, you know, holding
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: on for dear life is how it felt sometimes. But yeah,
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: I feel like I've been able to move past that
• 28:21
  Speaker 4: now and the businesses, you know, incredibly grateful for the
• 28:25
  Speaker 4: business being in a really positive place and we can
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: just keep looking forward now.
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: And why do you think you have so much loyalty
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: from your investors.
• 28:38
  Speaker 4: They just they've been incredibly invested in the business. They
• 28:43
  Speaker 4: know the stories so well, they're just very aligned on
• 28:47
  Speaker 4: the mission and what we're trying to do. And we've
• 28:49
  Speaker 4: also been very transparent with them over time, which I
• 28:52
  Speaker 4: is a really great lesson for me as well.
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: And it's just that it actually.
• 28:57
  Speaker 4: Really pays to be as visible as possible and to
• 29:01
  Speaker 4: get their feedback early on, Like if there's an issue
• 29:04
  Speaker 4: that you think could be material, then it's worth talking
• 29:08
  Speaker 4: about it early and then you just you just build
• 29:10
  Speaker 4: that trust over time. And you know, we have our
• 29:14
  Speaker 4: investors have been there for yeah, ten years, as I say,
• 29:17
  Speaker 4: and just being able to have those candid, honest conversations
• 29:20
  Speaker 4: with them is just so important.
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: And what do you think your biggest mistake has been?
• 29:36
  Speaker 4: That's a really good question. It's I'm trying to separate
• 29:39
  Speaker 4: a mistake that is one that we couldn't have avoided,
• 29:44
  Speaker 4: like you know obviously COVID.
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah that wasn't on you, It doesn't it made meaning. No.
• 29:49
  Speaker 4: I we certainly made mistakes, were definitely made mistakes as
• 29:54
  Speaker 4: a business.
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: I think we did try to go too big too early, doesn't.
• 30:04
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yeah, so we I think we we did
• 30:07
  Speaker 4: get a bit of ahead of our skis essentially with
• 30:11
  Speaker 4: with some of the insues that we had was just
• 30:14
  Speaker 4: going to full noise until we had you know, real validation.
• 30:18
  Speaker 4: But all in all, you know, I feel it we've
• 30:21
  Speaker 4: done a lot of things right. So I do look
• 30:24
  Speaker 4: back and I don't have those moments were like oh
• 30:26
  Speaker 4: if only we did this or that.
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: We don't have that.
• 30:29
  Speaker 4: Even though Rental ultimately didn't work out for us as
• 30:32
  Speaker 4: a business, it made sense at the time. So I
• 30:35
  Speaker 4: can't look look back at that with you know, a
• 30:39
  Speaker 4: heap of regret because it made sense with what was
• 30:41
  Speaker 4: in front of us at the time.
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: And how does a friendship like yours and Donnells survive
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: incredible incredible pressure?
• 30:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, well we were.
• 30:52
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we were together. You know, we were a romantic
• 30:55
  Speaker 4: partner before before all that.
• 30:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so we.
• 30:59
  Speaker 4: You know, we had all that and our relationship actually
• 31:03
  Speaker 4: we broke up as you know, when we were going
• 31:05
  Speaker 4: through Designer Wardrobe well before COVID, So that was that
• 31:10
  Speaker 4: was Another challenge within itself, is that you're running a
• 31:13
  Speaker 4: business with now your ex partner, but she's also like
• 31:17
  Speaker 4: my best friend and that as there's a lot of
• 31:22
  Speaker 4: obvious challenges within that. But I think it just comes
• 31:25
  Speaker 4: back to if you want what's best for each other,
• 31:27
  Speaker 4: and you care for each other, and you're both have this,
• 31:32
  Speaker 4: you know, very vested interest in and making this business
• 31:35
  Speaker 4: be as good as it can be.
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: Then you can get through through anything.
• 31:40
  Speaker 4: So actually getting through both COVID and you know, essentially
• 31:44
  Speaker 4: her parting ways of the designer wardrobe part of the
• 31:48
  Speaker 4: business was something that we knew we could get through,
• 31:51
  Speaker 4: you know, as as challenging as it is. And yeah,
• 31:53
  Speaker 4: we're just hanging out, We're just talking on Instagram, you know,
• 31:56
  Speaker 4: two minutes ago. You know, she's actually in China at
• 31:58
  Speaker 4: the moment for her brother's wedding. So it's it's it's
• 32:02
  Speaker 4: it's one of those ones where it's there's a bit
• 32:03
  Speaker 4: of an unbreakable bond there.
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: God that that survived it. Yeah, And do you think
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: entrepreneurs are born and not made? Because you what was
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: your first business? It was when you were at school?
• 32:13
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, it was buying things from from China and
• 32:19
  Speaker 4: selling them on trade me essentially was like one of
• 32:21
  Speaker 4: the first businesses.
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: And then how old were you then? I would have
• 32:25
  Speaker 3: been fourteen, I.
• 32:26
  Speaker 4: Think, yeah, yeah, so it's yeah, it's that was actually
• 32:30
  Speaker 4: very early on from when trade Me started actually and
• 32:35
  Speaker 4: and then years as full circle that then.
• 32:40
  Speaker 3: Sam Morgan's sister.
• 32:41
  Speaker 4: Ruby Morgan ends up joining Designer Wardrobe, So it's a
• 32:45
  Speaker 4: bit of a a small world there.
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 32:48
  Speaker 4: And then Donnielle and I also had a jewelry business
• 32:51
  Speaker 4: before starting Designer Wardrobe as well.
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: So.
• 32:55
  Speaker 3: I would say, yeah, you it's very much feels like
• 32:58
  Speaker 3: you're born with a entrepreneurial spirit, I would say.
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: Because that terrifies me, the thought of being an entrepreneur
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: a business person. I'm really happy working for someone that
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: I believe in, yep, and turning up and getting my
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: paycheck and going home. But that's not the way entrepreneurs think.
• 33:14
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I think that's right. Yeah, yeah, but I
• 33:19
  Speaker 4: find what you do pretty terrifying.
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: What are the superpowers that you have to have within
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: your personality to be a successful entrepreneur?
• 33:31
  Speaker 4: I think it's Yeah, it's like a mix of you
• 33:37
  Speaker 4: almost have to be a little bit delusional but also
• 33:42
  Speaker 4: realistic about that delusion, and yeah, just a stubbornness that
• 33:48
  Speaker 4: you know you can that this is a business that
• 33:51
  Speaker 4: should exist, right and also you do need to get
• 33:55
  Speaker 4: a thick skin pretty quick because people will tell you
• 33:58
  Speaker 4: that this idea is not worth pursuing or X will
• 34:01
  Speaker 4: just copy this, or this has already been done it
• 34:04
  Speaker 4: didn't work. You have to believe that you know what
• 34:06
  Speaker 4: you're doing is, and what you're doing and how you're
• 34:11
  Speaker 4: going to do it will be successful.
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: And what will success look like for you?
• 34:17
  Speaker 4: Yeah? I think like for design and wardrobe, we want
• 34:21
  Speaker 4: to keep keep growing. Got a long way to go
• 34:23
  Speaker 4: as a business. Ultimately, for any business, you either get
• 34:30
  Speaker 4: acquired or you or you go public, and for us
• 34:33
  Speaker 4: it will be you know, one of those two things
• 34:36
  Speaker 4: is where you get returned for or what you owe
• 34:40
  Speaker 4: to shareholders essentially right, or you pay a dividend. So
• 34:43
  Speaker 4: we're not quite there yet, but that's that's what success
• 34:47
  Speaker 4: will look like over the next couple of years.
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: And what will be the first big ticket item you buy?
• 34:55
  Speaker 3: Oh?
• 34:56
  Speaker 4: I really want to have a a little man cave, Yeah,
• 35:04
  Speaker 4: out on the lawn. Yeah, that would be That would
• 35:06
  Speaker 4: be a lot of fun. Yeah, and then I don't
• 35:10
  Speaker 4: really need need a lot else.
• 35:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah I don't. I don't need like the roles or
• 35:14
  Speaker 3: anything right now.
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: But you can always rent its, yeah exactly.
• 35:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: Okay, quick fig what's your favorite clothing item that you've
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: bought recently?
• 35:25
  Speaker 4: Actually, these jeans I bought from Super Et, these car
• 35:28
  Speaker 4: Heart jeans. I can tell as soon as I put
• 35:30
  Speaker 4: them on, I had this feeling that I think I'm
• 35:32
  Speaker 4: going to have these for life. It's like one of
• 35:34
  Speaker 4: those piers of jeans, you know.
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: Don't even lose them. I went through a phase of
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: losing clothing, but I think that was when I was
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: drinking as well. Yeah, and what was your first business
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: idea as a kid.
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: I was.
• 35:51
  Speaker 4: I was buying lighters from China and something with them
• 35:54
  Speaker 4: on trade me.
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, like funny shaped lighters. Yeah.
• 36:00
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I shouldn't have been smoking at fifteen, but that's
• 36:03
  Speaker 4: sort of naturally. Where my entrepreneurial ship went was well,
• 36:06
  Speaker 4: buy some sort of accessory for this and sell it.
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: Since quit.
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: But yeah, what is your favorite part of running a business?
• 36:16
  Speaker 4: I love, Yeah, having to wear so many hats and
• 36:21
  Speaker 4: having so much variety every single day, Like, you know,
• 36:24
  Speaker 4: one day you might be having a meeting with an investor, or,
• 36:27
  Speaker 4: you know, doing a podcast like this, and maybe I'll
• 36:29
  Speaker 4: get back to the office and it turns out there's
• 36:32
  Speaker 4: no milk.
• 36:32
  Speaker 3: In the fridge enough to go buy milk, you know.
• 36:34
  Speaker 4: So I just love the variety, and just I get
• 36:37
  Speaker 4: a heck of a lot of satisfaction from building something.
• 36:40
  Speaker 4: So building a product that makes its way to design
• 36:44
  Speaker 4: a wardrobe and then seeing people use it and then
• 36:47
  Speaker 4: give positive feedback is extremely rewarding.
• 36:49
  Speaker 3: So I love that and too young.
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: If you're thinking of the young fifteen year old aid,
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: and if there's a young fifteen year old aid out
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: there listening, what would be your best piece of advice
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: for him or her?
• 37:03
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think I think one way to think about
• 37:05
  Speaker 4: it is, you know, if you have an idea, the
• 37:11
  Speaker 4: the friction now to actually do that is the least
• 37:15
  Speaker 4: it's ever been, right, So you can build something very
• 37:20
  Speaker 4: quickly now and validate it, and you can just try
• 37:27
  Speaker 4: things and scratch your own itch. I am still building,
• 37:32
  Speaker 4: you know, little things outside a Designer wardrobe.
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: Because I just have that curiosity.
• 37:36
  Speaker 4: So just having that curiosity and exploring, it's amazing where
• 37:40
  Speaker 4: that sort of thing can take you.
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: And that was Aiden Bartlett, co founder of Designer Wardrobe,
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: talk about a COVID rise from the Ash's story. If
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: you want to hear more stories about what it's really
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: like to be a boss, make sure you check out
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: Bosses Unfiltered on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: Catch you next time, ye